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This paper examines the growth impact of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on host developing countries and investigates whether it is different from that of OFDI from Western countries. The analysis covers the distinctive characteristics of Chinese OFDI, in particular, weak ownership advantages and strong state supportiveness, and how they influence the growth impact of OFDI through different transmission channels. Using a cross-country panel dataset for 52 countries over the 2004-2012 period and OFDI originating from China and the US as examples, the results attest to our argument that it is not absolute but relative ownership advantage and the gap-filling compatibilities between FDI and host economies that determine the growth impact of FDI on the host countries. It finds that both Chinese OFDI and US OFDI have a significant positive impact on capital accumulation in developing countries; however, Chinese OFDI has a stronger effect on employment and productivity growth than US OFDI. Moreover, the growth impact of Chinese OFDI is stronger in low-income countries, while US OFDI demonstrates significant effects mainly in middle-income countries.

While there has been extensive development of soluble epitope-specific peptides to induce immune tolerance for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, the clinical efficacy of soluble-peptides-based immunotherapy was still uncertain. Recent strategies to develop antigen carriers coupled with peptides have shown promising results in preclinical animal models. Here we developed functional amphiphilic hyperbranched (HB) polymers with different grafting degrees of hydrophobic chains as antigen myelin antigen oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide carriers and evaluated their ability to induce immune tolerance. We show that these polymers could efficiently deliver antigen peptide, and the uptake amount by bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs) was correlated with the hydrophobicity of polymers. We observe that these polymers have a higher ability to activate BMDCs and a higher efficacy to induce antigen-specific T cell apoptosis than soluble peptides, irrespective of hydrophobicity. We show that intravenous injection of polymer-conjugated MOG peptide, but not soluble peptide, markedly treats the clinical symptoms of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice. Together, these results demonstrate the potential for using amphiphilic HB polymers as antigen carriers to deliver peptides for pathogenic autoreactive T cell deletion/tolerance strategies to treat autoimmune disorders.

Based on case studies of leading Chinese MNEs' international operations in developed countries, this study develops a reverse knowledge acquisition model of emerging market MNEs through subsidiary-led reverse learning, knowledge sharing and integration processes. It unpacks MNEs' external learning process and contributes to the literature by exploring three mechanisms of learning, sharing and integration. It finds three reverse learning channels, a multi-level hub-spoke type of knowledge acquiring mechanism, and a two-tier three-step integration mechanism. The learning mechanism confirms knowledge acquisition driven by reverse learning behaviours; the sharing mechanism enriches the community perspective of capability building and sharing; the integration mechanism provides an effective way of knowledge integration within the MNEs. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) frequently occurs in Parkinson's disease (PD). Neurovascular changes interact with neurodegenerative processes in PD. However, the deficits of cerebral blood flow (CBF) perfusion and the associated functional connectivity (FC) in PD patients with MCI (PD-MCI) remain unclear. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the specific neurovascular perfusion alterations in PD-MCI compared to PD with normal cognition (PD-NC) and healthy controls (HCs), and to further examine the resultant whole brain FC changes in the abnormal perfusion regions. Methods: Relative CBF (rCBF) was calculated using arterial spin labeling (ASL) in 54 patients with PD (27 patients with PD-NC and 27 patients with PD-MCI) and 25 HCs matched for age and gender ratio, who also underwent the structural MRI, resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and neuropsychological examinations. The gray matter (GM) changes in PD patients were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). The alterations in rCBF perfusion and FC among groups were then analyzed respectively. Additionally, correlations between these alterations and neuropsychological performances were further examined. Results: Compared to HC, left caudate atrophy was detected in patients with PD. In comparison to both PD-NC and HC, patients with PD-MCI specifically exhibited hypoperfusion in the parietal memory network (PMN) in the precuneus (PCu) and decreased PCu-FC in the right striatum. Moreover, PCu perfusion and PCu-FC strengths in the right striatum were positively associated with memory performance in PD-MCI. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the posterior PMN dysfunction underlies memory deficits in PD-MCI.

In this study, we review the literature on the creation and diffusion of innovation in the private sectors (industry and services) in developing countries. In particular, we collect evidence on what are the barriers to innovation creation and diffusion and the channels of innovation diffusion to and within developing countries. We find that innovation in developing countries is about creation or adoption of new ideas and technologies; but the capacity for innovation is embedded in and constituted by dynamics between geographical, socio-economic, political and legal subsystems. We contextualize the findings from the review in the current theoretical framework of diffusion of innovations, and we emphasize how the institutional context typical of developing countries impacts the diffusion itself.

Problem In our previous study on adult male mice, we had identified one immunodominant epitope in hEppin and three epitopes in hFSHR that caused fertility inhibition. But it only demonstrated a moderate inhibitory effect on fertility, and the antifertility effect was unsatisfactory. Method of study Based on the protein prime–peptide boost inoculation modalities, we further investigated whether the antifertility capacity could be enhanced by a combined immunization with the two antigens. Results The results displayed a enhanced suppressed fertility (F2EP2C 6.67%) in male mice similar to that seen after four separate administrations of the two proteins (F12E-4 5%). The most likely mechanism by which this antifertility efficacy was achieved was probably through the production of antibodies that led not only to impairment of spermatogenesis but also to inhibition of sperm motility. Moreover, this treatment also induced high concentrations of neutralizing antibodies which were secreted into the lumen of the epididymis. Conclusion Thus, a combination immunization with hFSHR and hEppin enhanced the contraceptive effects and may provide a better means of immunocontraception.

After more than three decades of opening up and reforms, China has moved from a low to an emerging middle-income country. The main challenge facing the country is how to sustain this momentum and develop into a high-income country and avoid the middle-income trap. In order to achieve this, industrial upgrading and structural change is crucial. This is not an easy process given that very few countries in the world achieved this in the past 50 years. What are the challenges for this transformation? How can the innovation and technological capabilities be developed to upgrade Chinese industries into one of the world’s innovation leaders? These are important questions to address for policy-makers and academics, and are the main theme of an International Conference on Transition and Economic Development (TED), held at Fudan University in 2015.

China has been transforming its development strategy from an investment-driven to an innovation-led one. Recent government policies (e.g., "Made in China 2025") have shown the country’s ambition to upgrade its manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, the technological environments and market conditions in China have also been changing rapidly. All these changes in terms of government policies, technological environments, and market conditions bring both opportunities and challenges for multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China. How should MNEs react to such new realities? As one leading MNE with a long history in the Chinese market, Siemens has been adapting its global R&D strategies, establishing its R&D centers of industrial robots in China. This represents an interesting case to academic researchers, industry practitioners, as well as policy makers. To better understand the co-evolution of MNEs and China’s innovation systems, we conducted this case study project on the Siemens innovation about industrial robots. The research shows that, on the one hand, Siemens’ decision of conducting R&D on industrial robots in China is driven by China’s evolving host-country environments. On the other hand, the changing R&D strategies of Siemens in China also have impacts on China’s innovation system, helping domestic manufacturers to make more advanced robots.

This study investigates the impact of outward direct investment (ODI) by Chinese MNEs on innovation performance and the conditions under which such an impact is moderated, based on a sample of Chinese firms. The empirical evidence suggests that undertaking ODI leads to an increase in the innovation performance of these Chinese firms. The impact of ODI on innovation is contingent on firm characteristics such as in-house R&D, strategic orientation and international experiences as well as contextual factors associated with investment destinations and industry contexts. We also find that learning through ODI is a complex process. There is a substitution between ODI and in-house R&D in Chinese MNEs. Our findings suggest that conducting ODI in developed countries serves as an effective channel for latecomer firms to overcome internal resource constraints and leapfrog towards the technology frontier.

This paper aims to develop a framework for the measurement of global trade that integrates trade-in-intangibles and trade-in-goods and services in the context of globalisation, and applies it for the analysis of global trade imbalance. Through in-depth discussions of the five modes through which trade-in-tangibles are carried out, it develops an integrated framework from the perspective of global value chains. Applying this framework to the estimation of trade imbalance of the U.S., its overall trade deficit reduces nearly half of its size from USD750 billion to USD396 billion in 2016 with a cautious adjustment without taking into account the income from trade-in-intangibles in most of the U.S. firms accrued through outsourcing and collaboration. It argues that the global trade imbalance and policy responses to solve this should be discussed using a framework that fully incorporates different types of trade activities in the 21st century as its basis. The fragmented global production finely orchestrated by MNEs implies that it is impossible for one single country involved in the GVCs to achieve high value-added per capita and mass employment at the same time. This is a new paradox of globalisation. Re-distribution of the often hidden or shifted income from the entities who gained a lot from the trade in intangibles to the rest of the society is crucial to reducing the inequalities. Tax avoidance by shifting these benefits abroad should be curbed.

Micro-expression is a subtle and involuntary facial expression that may reveal the hidden emotion of human beings. Spotting micro-expression means to locate the moment when the microexpression happens, which is a primary step for micro-expression recognition. Previous work in microexpression expression spotting focus on spotting micro-expression from short video, and with hand-crafted features. In this paper, we present a methodology for spotting micro-expression from long videos. Specifically, a new convolutional neural network named as SMEConvNet (Spotting Micro-Expression Convolutional Network) was designed for extracting features from video clips, which is the first time that deep learning is used in micro-expression spotting. Then a feature matrix processing method was proposed for spotting the apex frame from long video, which uses a sliding window and takes the characteristics of micro-expression into account to search the apex frame. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve better performance than existing state-of-art methods.

Copper electrodepostion on polyaniline (PANI)-covered poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) textiles was realized galvanostaticly in a plating solution containing sodium citrate. Electrochemical behaviors of Cu deposition on PANI/PET electrodes in citrate baths were studied by measuring the cathodic polarization curves. Electroplating conditions such as concentrations of copper sulfate, sodium citrate and sodium sulfate, pH value, current density as well as the concentration ratio of oxidation/monomer for PANI formation were determined by comparing the polarization curves and the current efficiency results. The surface morphologies of Cu/PANI/PET formed under the different current density were evidenced by scanning electron microscopy. In addition, the conductivity of the synthesized films was also measured with a four-probe method and the lowest sheet resistance of 100 mΩ/sq was presented at 60–80 mA cm−2, in which the maximum current efficiency reached up to 85 %. The deposition mechanism that the reductions of copper ions and PANI layers occurred in parallel, and the growth of copper crystals performed at the polymer surface were deduced.

This study investigates the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on economic and human development in Africa. Specific focus is placed on the local managerial capability building. Capability building is an important part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework and is considered a necessary prerequisite for achieving poverty alleviation targets. The low level of local capabilities is a well-recognized issue in Africa. The study also addresses the emerging stream of research devoted to MNEs from developing countries. Such MNEs have a different level of managerial capabilities, a different corporate culture, and different operation models compared to MNEs from developed countries. This study analyzes the industrial development of Ghana and compares cases of Chinese and European MNEs operating in this country. On the basis of multimethod analysis, we provide extensive policy implications.

Access to affordable and sustainable energy is crucial for the improvement of the well-being of modern societies. Most energy technologies require comparatively high up-front investment, which adds to the challenge of electrification, despite the recognized multiple benefits. Partnership with multinational enterprises (MNEs) can provide necessary investment in infrastructure, finance, and technology for renewable energy and contribute to improving development indicators. However, remote areas with poor infrastructure do not have access to MNEs that are profit seekers. The Brazil experience with MNEs and “Light for All” (LfA) program shows that people gaining access to electricity invest more in businesses, education, health, and women reduce their drudgery at household chores. However, areas having a poor infrastructure in the north remain out of electricity, and attempts to create universal access were failed until a regulatory incentive framework and particular attention from the government was established. This is a great learning for the developing countries aiming to achieve sustainable development goals. A host country can gain development cooperation from MNEs with rightly formulated and implemented policies and regulatory conditions.

Despite the high profile of the issue in current policy formulations in low-income countries (LICs), there is little large firm level survey based empirical evidence on innovativeness and firm performance, especially in informal establishments. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature using a revised Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) structural model to analyse data from a unique innovation survey of 501 manufacturing firms in Ghana. We find that innovation positively impacts the labour productivity of firms, technological innovations more than managerial innovations. Formal firms do not tend to be more productive than informal firms, but the role of innovation on productivity tends to be greater for formal firms.

The current study investigated whether people can simultaneously acquire knowledge about concrete chunks and abstract structures in implicit sequence learning; and whether the degree of abstraction determines the conscious status of the acquired knowledge. We adopted three types of stimuli in a serial reaction time task in three experiments. The RT results indicated that people could simultaneously acquire knowledge about concrete chunks and abstract structures of the temporal sequence. Generation performance revealed that ability to control was mainly based on abstract structures rather than concrete chunks. Moreover, ability to control was not generally accompanied with awareness of knowing or knowledge, as measured by confidence ratings and attribution tests, confirming that people could control the use of unconscious knowledge of abstract structures. The results present a challenge to computational models and theories of implicit learning.

A recent joint report of China’s State Council Development Research Centre and the World Bank argued that China stands at a precarious and challenging position in its development (World Bank and DRC 2013). Its early years of sustained high-speed economic growth were fuelled by somewhat unusual advantages — those of ‘backwardness’. These advantages included a large, young, mainly rural workforce; deep and untapped pools of technologies available for purchase or transfer on international technology markets (including the attraction of foreign businesses via FDI into joint ventures and other partnerships); buoyant and accessible international markets for trade; and, at times, protected (and therefore profitable) domestic markets allowing for the appropriation of rents to domestic firms able to harness foreign technologies and know-how. Until recently, therefore, China was able to exploit the shift from low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity manufacturing work. It did so by combining its relatively low-cost labour with modern, often imported, manufacturing know-how. High levels of savings facilitated very high levels of investment, thereby fuelling sustained and swift economic growth processes. An important feature of this growth model was the general tendency to rely upon foreign technologies. The development of domestic innovation capabilities was thus not critical to its success.

Micro-expression recognition is influenced by emotional contexts at the behavioral level. It is found that the recognition for micro-expressions is poorer following a negative context compared to the recognition following a neutral context. However, it remains unclear whether the modulation takes place in the early or later stage of the processing of micro-expressions as reflected in event-related potentials (ERPs). Using synthesized micro-expressions in this study, we investigated how emotional context modulates the ERP components that are elicited by micro-expressions. We observed that, compared to neutral contexts, negative and positive contexts elicited more positive amplitude trends for processing the subsequent target micro-expressions, and more positive P1 and N170 effects were elicited by target micro-expressions following negative and positive contexts compared to those following neutral contexts. Moreover, there were larger P1 effects elicited by the target micro-expressions when the context and target expressions were incongruent compared to when they were congruent. Our findings provide new ERP evidence to indicate that emotional contexts modulate micro-expression processing, and that the modulation of emotional contexts takes place at the early stage of facial-expression processing.

The present study used a single-task paradigm in which participants received guidance to focus more attention (waiting for someone) on the temporal intervals in the "waiting" condition and to stay relaxed in the control condition. The reported time was longer in the waiting condition than in the control condition. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure simultaneously the activation levels of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for each condition. Greater oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) activation in the waiting condition was observed compared with the control condition, whilst deoxyhemoglobin data showed no difference between the two conditions. The gradual changes in oxy-Hb in the DLPFC in increments of 100 ms yielded further insights into the role of this region in the "watched pot never boils" phenomenon.

Regulatory T cells (Treg) have significant roles in the immunopathology of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and exhibit an evident correlation with antiviral immunity when antiviral therapy is applied. In order to investigate how circulating Tregs are affected by telbivudine treatment and its significance in patients with CHB, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated and the proportions of circulating cluster of differentiation (CD)4+CD25+CD127low and CD8+CD25+ T cells of CHB patients prior to and during the three or six months of treatment were assessed and detected by flow cytometric analysis. The levels of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor (Foxp3) mRNA were also quantified using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A significantly higher percentage of CD4+CD25+CD127low and CD8+CD25+ T cells in the PBMCs of patients with CHB were identified compared with that of healthy individuals. Patients with CHB also demonstrated significantly higher levels of Foxp3 mRNA compared with that of healthy individuals. Following six months of telbivudine treatment, the proportion of circulating CD4+CD25+CD127low and CD8+CD25+ T cells and the relative levels of Foxp3 mRNA in patients with CHB was comparable to the proportion in healthy individuals. The proportions of circulating peripheral blood CD4+CD25+CD127low T cells were paralleled with its HBV DNA inhibition. The results of the present study indicate that telbivudine treatment reduces HBV DNA levels rapidly and indirectly affects the immune system by downregulating the proportion of circulating Treg markedly, which may be beneficial to restore the antiviral immune response.

China’s remarkable economic growth has produced dramatic structural and socioeconomic change. Economic growth has solved many problems but the accompanying changes in the economy and society have brought new problems to the fore. This has been recognized by China’s Government in the recent emphasis that it has placed on the need to create a “harmonious society.” The new leadership will wish to devise new policies for the current challenges and those ahead. In June 2013 a China Policy Forum was held in Oxford to discuss some of these challenges and their implications for future policy.1 Among the various topics that might have been chosen, four were selected and relevant experts were invited to make presentations in order to start the discussions. The topics chosen for this, the first Forum, were: policy against social instability; policy against rural poverty; technology policy; and policy for the aging population. After the very successful Policy Forum the four experts were invited to revise their presentations in light of the discussions, and to prepare them as papers for journal publication. Three have responded. We, the Guest Editors, are grateful to the Editors of China & World Economy for providing an excellent outlet for these (peer-reviewed) papers. The papers differ somewhat from most journal articles in economics in that the contributors were asked to divide their space roughly equally between an economic analysis of the main issues and the policy implications of that analysis. However, the contributors were not expected to come up with a cut-and-dried list of policies to be implemented. Rather, they were invited to present a reasoned set of policy options, based on their economic analysis, for government consideration. In this Introduction we highlight the main points of each paper, concentrating on the policy implications. Social instability is a surprisingly uncommon research topic for an economist, because concern about social instability can lurk behind much policy-making. China’s leadership views social instability as a threat both to the political order and to the continued rapid

Transforming China into an innovation-driven economy has been one of the top priorities of the Chinese Government. This paper examines the policy choices involved in the extended national innovation performance framework for creating an open innovation system. Innovation capabilities, incentives and institutional frameworks are examined. The paper argues that China should continue to increase its investment in RD adopt appropriate human resource management, such as appraisal and remuneration systems; create effective policies for research funding management; and evaluate the efficiency of research to encourage the creativity of researchers, managers and employees. The paper also discusses the space for industrial policy in the 21st century.

Since China's entry into the WTO, US anti-dumping (AD) actions against China have increased, particularly with respect to multiple petitions. Distinguishing between US single and multiple petitions, we examine the trade effects of US AD actions against China based on an unbalanced panel of quarterly trade data. The results show that a US single petition investigation greatly restrains US imports of the filed products from China but also causes more significant import diversion from non-named countries. In the short run, a preliminary AD duty imposed on China via a US multiple petition not only restrains US imports of the filed products from China but also prevents trade diversion from non-named countries. In the long run, a final AD duty on China resulting from a US multiple petition creates a larger destructive effect on China and causes US import diversion from non-named countries. Thus, a final AD duty imposed on China following a US multiple petition not only harms China's exports but also fails to help the US achieve import substitution. Furthermore, we have been able to reveal the negative trade effect of a preliminary AD duty even in cases where the ultimate decision is not to impose a final duty.

Actions can be represented as a hierarchy of goals and means, whereas the granularity of the top level depends on the action's complexity. So far, most evidence comes from imitation studies. We explored this issue by evaluating the detection of means and end changes in a recognition paradigm across ages and cultures. German and Chinese preschoolers (n = 53) and adults (n = 58) studied videos of tool-use actions differing in complexity and familiarity. In the test phase, participants judged identical, means-changed and end-changed actions as same or different. Changes of the actions' end were generally identified more accurately independent of age and culture. Means' changes, but not ends' changes, were detected more frequently for complex than for simple actions. Changes in familiar actions were recognised better than changes in unfamiliar actions. The data supports a hierarchical model of action representation where the end information is superordinate to means information.

Previous studies have shown that we need to distinguish between means and end information about actions. It is unclear how these two subtypes of action information relate to each other with theoretical accounts postulating the superiority of end over means information and others linking separate means and end routes of processing to actions of differential meaningfulness. Action meaningfulness or familiarity differs between cultures. In a cross-cultural setting, we investigated how action familiarity influences recognition memory for means and end information. Object directed actions of differential familiarity were presented to Chinese and German participants. Action familiarity modulated the representation of means and end information in both cultures in the same way, although the effects were based on different stimulus sets. Our results suggest that, in the representation of actions in memory, end information is superordinate to means information. This effect is independent of culture whereas action familiarity is not.

Video, as one typical digital media, is important for message communication. For efficient video content visualization and natural interaction such as video browsing and searching, we propose a sketch-based video summarization with fluent sketch interaction in this paper. Firstly, we present the sketch representation for video semantics, which takes the advantages of abstractness and generality of sketches. The concept of semantic sketch is proposed, which supports annotating video contents with sketches. Furthermore, an optimized layout algorithm for sketch summarization is presented. Secondly, we present the interaction techniques for sketch summarization and natural sketch gesture operations. From the viewpoint of cognitive psychology, we analyze the sketch representation, as well as the effects and relations of cognitive units in sketch interaction. Finally, user studies show that the proposed sketch summarization and sketch interaction improve user efficiency in terms of acquiring the main video content and reduce users’ cognitive load.

This study employs a national survey of over 1100 British financial firms to ascertain the determinants of financial innovation and their sales success using the logit and the generalized Tobit models. We find that the likelihood of financial innovation rises with the size of financial firms, employee education, greater expenditure on research and development, the availability of finance and the extent to which firms cooperate with each other. Perceptions of economic risk and innovation costs are also influential. R&D, cooperation and human capital are the main variables driving the success of financial innovation, measured by the percentage share of innovations sold. Firms in London/the south have a significantly greater tendency to innovate, though Scotland also does well. Stock broking, fund management and related activities are more innovative than firms in the financial intermediation and pension/insurance sectors.

Micro-expression has gained a lot of attention because of its potential applications (e.g., transportation security) and theoretical implications (e.g., expression of emotions). However, the duration of micro-expression, which is considered as the most important characteristic, has not been firmly established. The present study provides evidence to define the duration of micro-expression by collecting and analyzing the fast facial expressions which are the leakage of genuine emotions. Participants were asked to neutralize their faces while watching emotional video episodes. Among the more than 1,000 elicited facial expressions, 109 leaked fast expressions (less than 500 ms) were selected and analyzed. The distribution curves of total duration and onset duration for the micro-expressions were presented. Based on the distribution and estimation, it seems suitable to define micro-expression by its total duration less than 500 ms or its onset duration less than 260 ms. These findings may facilitate further studies of micro-expressions in the future.

The protective immunity induced by the whole-killed parasite vaccine against malarial blood-stage infection is dependent on the CD4+ T cell response. However, the mechanism underlying this robust CD4+ T cell response elicited by the whole-killed parasite vaccine is still largely unknown. In this study, we observe that immunization with Plasmodium yoelii–parasitized RBC lysate activates complement C5 and generates C5a. However, the protective efficacy against P. yoelii 17XL challenge is considerably reduced, and the malaria-specific CD4+ T cell activation and memory T cell differentiation are largely suppressed in the C5aR-deficient (C5aR−/−) mice. An adoptive transfer assay demonstrates that the reduced protection of C5aR−/− mice is closely associated with the severely impaired CD4+ T cell response. This is further confirmed by the fact that administration of C5aR antagonist significantly reduces the protective efficacy of the immunized B cell–deficient mice. Further study indicates that the defective CD4+ T cell response in C5aR−/− mice is unlikely involved in the expansion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells, but strongly linked to a defect in dendritic cell (DC) maturation and the ability to allostimulate CD4+ T cells. These results demonstrate that C5aR signaling is essential for the optimal induction of the malaria-specific CD4+ T cell response by the whole-killed parasite vaccine through modulation of DCs function, which provides us with new clues to design an effective blood-stage subunit vaccine and helps us to understand the mechanism by which the T cell response is regulated by the complement system.

Electrodeposition of copper was performed on the polyaniline/poly(ethylene terephthalate) conductive textiles in an aqueous electrolyte solution. The investigations of electrochemical deposition and dissolution processes of copper on and from textile electrodes were studied using cyclic voltammetry technique. Galvanostatic experiments give the evidence for reduction reactions of polyaniline layers and copper ions. The morphology observations by scanning electron microscopy show the nodular crystal and 3D branching microstructure of the coatings depend on the parameters current density and time of the copper electroreduction. Effects of current density and depositing time on the composition of the metallic-polymer layers on textile substrates were confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction measurements for the copper films galvanostatically formed display the crystallographic structures with a preferred orientation.

By inhibiting target gene expression, microRNAs (miRNAs) play major roles in various physiological and pathological processes. miR-146a, a miRNA induced upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation and virus infection, is also highly expressed in patients with immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, and psoriasis. Whether the high level of miR-146a contributes to any of these pathogenesis-related processes remains unknown. To elucidate the function of miR-146a in vivo, we generated a transgenic (TG) mouse line overexpressing miR-146a. Starting at an early age, these TG mice developed spontaneous immune disorders that mimicked human autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) with distinct manifestations, including enlarged spleens and lymph nodes, inflammatory infiltration in the livers and lungs, increased levels of double-negative T cells in peripheral blood, and increased serum immunoglobulin G levels. Moreover, with the adoptive transfer approach, we found that the B-cell population was the major etiological factor and that the expression of Fas, a direct target of miR-146a, was significantly dampened in TG germinal center B cells. These results indicate that miR-146a may be involved in the pathogenesis of ALPS by targeting Fas and may therefore serve as a novel therapeutic target.

This study investigated whether low-level attentional processes as indicated by saccade trajectories are modulated by higher-order factors as indicated by participants' cultural background. We hypothesized that if the East Asian participants engage in context-dependent attentional processing to a greater extent than the Western participants, then the magnitude of the distractor effect on saccade trajectories (Doyle & Walker, 2001) should be larger with the East Asian participants than with the Western participants. Participants executed vertical saccades towards targets presented on the vertical meridian above or below fixation. Simultaneously with the target, a distractor appeared in one of the screen quadrants. Consistently with our hypothesis, we found evidence that the saccades of the Chinese participants tended to curve away from the distractors more strongly than the saccades of the German participants. However, this effect was restricted to the upper distractors and the lower targets. The findings are discussed in terms of cross-cultural differences in distractor-related activation and inhibition and functional specialization of hemifields. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For decades, a spirited debate has existed over whether infants’ remarkable capacity to learn words is shaped primarily by universal features of human language or by specific featuers of the particulare native language they are acquiring. A strong focus for this debate has been a well-documented difference in early word learning: Infants’ success in learning verbs lags behind their success in learning nouns.. In this review, we articulate both sides of the debate and summarize new cross-linguistic evidence from infants that underscores the role of universal features and begins to clarify the impact of distinctly different languages on early language and conceptual development.

It remains controversial whether visual awareness is correlated with early activation indicated by VAN (visual awareness negativity), as the recurrent process hypothesis theory proposes, or with later activation indicated by P3 or LP (late positive), as suggested by global workspace theories. To address this issue, a backward masking task was adopted, in which participants were first asked to categorize natural scenes of color photographs and line-drawings and then to rate the clarity of their visual experience on a Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS). The interstimulus interval between the scene and the mask was manipulated. The behavioral results showed that categorization accuracy increased with PAS ratings for both color photographs and line-drawings, with no difference in accuracy between the two types of images for each rating, indicating that the experience rating reflected visibility. Importantly, the event-related potential (ERP) results revealed that for correct trials, the early posterior N1 and anterior P2 components changed with the PAS ratings for color photographs, but did not vary with the PAS ratings for line-drawings, indicating that the N1 and P2 do not always correlate with subjective visual awareness. Moreover, for both types of images, the anterior N2 and posterior VAN changed with the PAS ratings in a linear way, while the LP changed with the PAS ratings in a non-linear way, suggesting that these components relate to different types of subjective awareness. The results reconcile the apparently contradictory predictions of different theories and help to resolve the current debate on neural correlates of visual awareness.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are believed to contribute towards economic development of host countries through foreign direct investment (FDI), which results in poverty alleviation and human empowerment through linkages and spillovers with local stakeholders. However, earlier research demonstrates that the positive impact of FDI is often inconclusive. There is thus a gap in understanding the link between the activities of MNEs in developing countries and their impact on socio-economic development. This volume reports the results of a large international ‘MNEmerge’ research project, financed by the European Commission, and provides an understanding of the impact of MNEs on United Nations Millennium Development Goals and successive Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries.

The relationship between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and host governments has seen different waves of trust and mistrust. Over the years, it has changed from a period of conflict after World War II, where MNEs were investing for purposes felt to be contradictory to government policies, to a more cooperative one, where countries are providing incentives and competing with each other to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). The 1990s saw the cooperative relationship leading to the danger of race to the bottom through excessive locational competition. In this chapter, we look at the past, present, and future state of this relationship as reported by different scholars from these periods. We look at the most influential literature from the 1970s onward and the current state of this relationship. Our analysis reveals that the increased tensions are caused by anxiety owing to unanticipated developments in the political economy, company strategies, and government policies. Thanks to globalization MNEs are increasingly becoming more powerful and often this process is accelerated owing to lack of any collaboration between MNEs and the governments. Thus, governments, particularly in emerging markets, are becoming more and more frustrated by the fact that on the one hand they want the MNEs to come and invest in their countries and, on the other hand, they feel that they cannot direct these MNEs to contribute toward economic development and poverty alleviation in their countries. In this chapter, we intend to evaluate the past and the present literature and look ahead to the future. Finally, on the basis of our own studies performed in this project and reported in different chapters of this book, we provide some policy guidelines for host country governments as to how they can encourage MNEs to contribute toward sustainable development and poverty reduction.

This paper investigated how implicit and explicit knowledge is reflected in event-related potentials (ERPs) in sequence learning. ERPs were recorded during a serial reaction time task. The results showed that there were greater RT benefits for standard compared with deviant stimuli later than early on, indicating sequence learning. After training, more standard triplets were generated under inclusion than exclusion tests and more standard triplets under exclusion than chance level, indicating that participants acquired both explicit and implicit knowledge. However, deviant targets elicited enhanced N2 and P3 components for targets with explicit knowledge but a larger N2 effect for targets with implicit knowledge, revealing that implicit knowledge expresses itself in relatively early components (N2) and explicit knowledge in additional P3 components. The results help resolve current debate about the neural substrates supporting implicit and explicit learning.

This article explores the paths of regional technology development in a large open developing economy. Findings from the research based on Chinese data suggest a differentiated approach to regional technology development. In technologically advanced regions, indigenous R&D; plays a more important role than learning-by-doing while in backward regions the latter becomes more important. Interregional technology transfer is found to have a more significant impact on regional technology development than Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and its effect intensifies when the technology level of the recipient region is close to the technological frontier. R&D; plays a key role in both the assimilation of foreign technologies in advanced regions and the assimilation of interregional technology transfer; learning-by-doing only affects the latter.

We investigate the impact of management capabilities of foreign firms on the management capabilities and performance of domestic firms using survey data on the UK retail sector. On average, foreign-owned retail firms achieve higher management capability scores and are more productive than domestic firms. Our results suggest two faces of foreign management capabilities. On the one hand, capabilities that can be codified, for example human resource management capabilities, generate some positive spillovers on the relevant management capabilities of local firms. On the other hand, dimensions of capabilities that are more tacit and highly competitive exert a negative competitive effect on domestic firms' own management capabilities. While the overall management capabilities of domestic firms are found to have a significantly positive effect on their own productive efficiency, we find no evidence of a direct efficiency effect of foreign management capabilities on local firms. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

This paper explores the role of indigenous and foreign innovation efforts in technological upgrading in developing countries, taking into account sectoral specificities in technical change. Using a Chinese firm-level panel dataset covering 2001–05, the paper decomposes productivity growth into technical change and efficiency improvement and examines the impact of indigenous and foreign innovation efforts on these changes. Indigenous firms are found to be the leading force on the technological frontier in the low- and medium-technology industries, while foreign-invested firms enjoy a clear lead in the high-technology sector. Collective indigenous R&D activities at the industry level are found to be the major driver of technology upgrading of indigenous firms that push out the technology frontier. While foreign investment appears to contribute to static industry capabilities, R&D activities of foreign-invested firms have exerted a significant negative effect on the technical change of local firms over the sample period.

This paper explores the influence of spatial effects on the convergence of total factor productivity (TFP) across Chinese regions. We use the Moran index, Markov transition matrix and panel data techniques to analyse spatial dependence, transition dynamics and disparities in TFP across Chinese provinces over the period from 1978 to 2004. We find that in the period following 1978, there has been an increase in spatial dependence in provincial-level TFPs across the various regions in China. However, the extent of this dependence is not the same across regions and the direction of movement of provincial TFP does not show convergence. On the contrary, provincial TFPs at the middle quintile level moved to the quintile levels at the highest and lowest levels, suggesting divergence and polarization in TFP across Chinese regions. The ‘New Eastern Region’ appears to be a TFP convergence club over the sampling period but no evidence is found suggesting convergence of TFP between provinces in the other subgroups. Policy implications are discussed.

Elderly people do not categorize emotional facial expressions as accurately as younger people, particularly negative emotions. Although age-related impairments in decoding emotions in facial expressions are well documented, the causes of this deficit are poorly understood. This study examined the potential mechanisms that account for this age-related categorization deficit by assessing its dependence on presentation time.Thirty young (19-27 years old) and 31 older (68-78 years old) Chinese adults were asked to categorize the six basic emotions in facial expressions, each presented for 120, 200, 600, or 1000 ms, before and after exposure to a neutral facial expression.Shortened presentation times caused an age-related deficit in the recognition of happy faces, whereas no deficit was observed at longer exposure times. An age-related deficit was observed for all negative emotions but was not exacerbated by shorter presentation times.Age-related deficits in categorization of positive and negative emotions are caused by different mechanisms. Because negative emotions are perceptually similar, they cause high categorization demands. Elderly people may need more evidence in favor of the target emotion than younger people, and they make mistakes if this surplus of evidence is missing. In contrast, perceptually distinct happy faces were easily identified, and elderly people only failed when the presentation time was too short for their slower perceptual processing.